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Joto
Gold Member
855 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 1:40:41 PM
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my arabs are out 24/7, rugged as necessary.They have a 30 ft x 12 ft field shelter which had a thick wood chipping bed with some shavings on top . this morning went to do morning feeds etc and the horses or probably one of them has decided to dig to austrailia. HUGE PILE of bedding all piled up against back wall,massive hole, bedding flung all over the place.
They have access in and out at will, so no excuse for being bored and frustrated, and thye have plenty of ad-lib hay so not hungry.
any ideas as to why?
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Edited by - Joto on 26 Jan 2009 10:41:15 AM
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vjc
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4952 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 1:42:28 PM
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sometimes in the winter horses do this looking for tender roots to eat or minerals in the soil, or just like you say for fun!!!! |
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BabsR
Platinum Member
England
2790 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 2:12:34 PM
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Hi....you dont say how old your horses are ?? Can suggest perhaps a few mobile `toys` for them to play with. We tie together a few plastic large Milk Bottles etc., and hang them on the wall...they spend ages `scrunching` them or rubbing up and down the wall.....seem to enjoy the noise they make. Ours also particulartly like the soft drinks plastic bottles. We take off the cap and just throw the bottles on the floor.....great fun stamping on them or throwing them about.
Perchance they may be seeking natural minerals, maybe a large rock salt. Do hope whoever is the guilty one........does not make a habit of excavating in your field shelter, on a regular basis.
www.SunrayAngloArabianStud.co.uk.
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Scarlet Arabian
Silver Member
England
339 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 5:36:00 PM
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just a thought, did any one of them get cast in the shelter, or had colic?
some thing to watch out for may be? |
    
stacatto wind...... kharibe........salana A/A........julien p/b........scarlet...
whitsbury/new forest
www.scarletarabianbridles.co.uk |
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Joto
Gold Member
855 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 6:58:31 PM
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thanks for all the replies. no colic, cast? well it is a possibility, but the bedding looked more like a digging heap than anything else. Salt, good point, they have plain and mineralised salt licks and a bit of salt added to the feed too. One of the mares used to dig and pile her bed up when I first bought her and she was stabled overnight, so I suspect its this mare whoes dug up the field shelter bed.
The only other thing I can think of is that one of thems wee'd and one of the geldings has been digging there.
who knows? maybe just fun! they were all doing do-lally in the top field this afternoon, very entertaining. |
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mogwai
Platinum Member
England
2717 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2009 : 7:13:20 PM
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I think they like to keep us entertained by doing bizarre things just to keep us wondering what they're up too .
Missy (9 months) has this unbelievably irritating habit of pooing, then scraping it around with her front feet. instead of picking up a poo pile, i have to scrape up poo dust  . Mary climbs into the water trough, then pretends she can't get out (she can, i've seen her when she thinks i'm not looking).
i think at this time of year, when the ground is like it is (soup!) they aren't using as much energy as they usually are because they can barely stand upright in the mud (they're not daft!) maybe any little idiosyncrasies they have will come to the surface. It maybe that when your mare feels a little under the weather (god knows the rest of us do at this time of year!) and they're spending more time in the shelter as a herd, she reverts to a tried and tested tension buster?
At the moment mine are either hanging around and eating to keep warm, or charging about like loons when the ground dries up! Missy was desperate for a play the other day, you could just see her fizzing and trying to get the others to join in. When no one would play, she chased the dogs #
Ros x |
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Joto
Gold Member
855 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2009 : 10:44:18 AM
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| I think the mystery is solved. This morning put some new [ and expensive!] shavings down. The ponies went into shed, had a good mooch round and a roll, then one of them started digging-for-england . Flinging it all everywhere inculding all over himself |
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Karon
Gold Member
England
1411 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2009 : 1:21:40 PM
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| Mine love to dig fresh bedding up, Ash even managed to dig an entire deep littered bed up when she was a yearling so she could lie down in the nice warm bed. Yeuck!! |
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